HOLLIOAKE AND STEWART STAND IN WARWICKSHIRE’S WAY by Marcus Hook
Surrey 237-4 v Warwickshire 413.

Following the frustration of seeing Mark Wagh and Alan Richardson adding 70 in fourteen overs for Warwickshire’s last wicket yesterday morning, Surrey were keen, perhaps a little too keen, to get on with the task of reeling in their opponents’ total of 413. They had Mark Butcher and, in particular, Adam Hollioake to thank for ending the second day in touch with the visitors – 176 behind with six first innings wickets in hand. But breaking the stand between Hollioake, who has 87, and Alec Stewart – so far worth 116 in 144 deliveries – could be the key to whether this game ends in a positive result. The weather may also have a say, as it seemed it might do yesterday.

Following a delayed start in which 24 overs were lost to rain, Azhar Mahmood accounted for the Neil Smith, caught in front of first slip, with the last ball of the over he had begun the night before. Resuming on ninety-one, Mark Wagh went to 97 with a cover driven four in the third over of the day and reached his hundred minutes later when he directed the ball straight back past the Pakistani for two. The 26-year-old’s hundred had taken him 167 deliveries, and it included fifteen fours.

It should then have been a case of Surrey wrapping up the Warwickshire innings. The visitors’ last pair had other plans, though, making the strategy of placing eight men on the boundary whenever Mark Wagh had the strike appear a fruitless exercise. After delaying the champions for nearly an hour the senior partner was eventually bowled between bat and pad for a well-deserved 136 made in 294 minutes.

Ian Ward was soon lost, being well caught low down by the keeper, Tony Frost, after hanging his bat out to Dougie Brown. Surrey then started to seize the initiative with the help of Butcher and Ramprakash, who shared in a second-wicket stand of 101 in twenty-nine overs.

Mark Butcher, whose first 36 runs all came in boundaries, made 64 off 99 balls with his trademark cut stroke, often full-blooded, and straight drive much in evidence. Indeed, he was responsible for the spearhead of Warwickshire’s attack, Alan Richardson, being asked to ‘take a blow’ after just three overs, which cost eighteen runs.

Mark Ramprakash, who had made 517 runs in his previous five championship innings against the midlands county, survived a hearty shout for lbw on 14, but settled into the role of playing second fiddle to England’s number three. He made 45 on this occasion, but still has an average of 187.33 over the last six visits to the crease against Warwickshire.

Butcher reached his half-century in 68 deliveries with his twelfth four, a crack through the covers during Richardson’s second over back from the opposite end, this time in front of the members. The left-hander’s landmark was second only to Ken Barrington’s unbeaten 51, coincidentally against Warwickshire, at The AMP Oval in 1963 in terms of Surrey fifties requiring the fewest number of strokes.

At tea the home side looked well poised at 104 for one. In the second over after the break Ramprakash cover drove Mohammed Sheikh for six. Two balls later, however, the former Middlesex man was walking back to the dressing room after the ball had rolled off his defensive bat and on to the stumps.

Alan Richardson then went around the wicket and immediately had Mark Butcher playing over a straight delivery. Things worsened for the home side when Alistair Brown obliged by giving long leg a straightforward catch off the same bowler.

At 121 for four, and some repair work required from the skipper and Surrey’s honorary captain, Adam Hollioake took fourteen off Richardson’s next over and two off driven fours from the next, bowled by Sheikh, to bring up the one hundred and fifty.

Two balls after he should have been stumped off Ashley Giles, the Surrey skipper reached his half-century in 55 deliveries. The next over was even more eventful, with Hollioake taking three fours off Dougie Brown before being dropped by Smith at wide mid-on whilst on 63. Just before the close the Oval outfit’s latest addition to Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year straight drove his counterpart, Giles, into the Bedser Stand for six. His innings has, so far, consumed just 88 balls.

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